EARS: Collaborative Research: Mobile Millimeter-Wave Networking: Distributed Cognition and Coordination Algorithms using Novel On-Chip Phased-Arrays

Ohio State University, The, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

Due to rapid growth in ubiquitous connectivity in the past two decades, the wireless landscape has become increasingly congested, leading to an impending gridlock of the radio frequency spectrum. On the other hand, recent measurements have also shown that the licensed radio frequency spectrum can be considerably underutilized due to demand variations in time, space, and frequency slots. This increasing congestion in the radio spectrum coupled with the inherent inefficiencies in its utilization has recently spurred widespread interest in the millimeter-wave band which could significantly expand the available communication spectrum spanning 20-100 GHz. However, the implementation of efficient and cost-effective millimeter-wave mobile networking technologies require innovative solutions to technical challenges in antenna-design, signaling, cognition, and coordination algorithms that are tailored to the characteristics of these new bands. The overarching objective of this project is to address the imminent radio spectrum crunch by developing an integrative and innovative approach to harness the millimeter-wave band for future mobile networks. The results of this project will help overcome the surge of data service demands that are rapidly growing due to the smart device revolution and will help relieve the impending congestion of the radio-frequency spectrum and usher uninterrupted broadband connectivity to the general public. Towards the realization of next generation millimeter-wave mobile networks, this project takes an inter-disciplinary approach spanning antenna-design, cognitive communication, and mobile networking. In particular, a novel ultra-wideband phased-array architecture will be developed for low-cost on-chip realization of millimeter-wave mobile nodes. In conjunction, efficient signaling, channel sensing and estimation schemes, decision-making strategies will be determined along with energy-efficient operation principles, and quality-of-service-aware algorithms that will usher in data-rates in excess of 100Gbps for future generation wireless networks. The novel on-chip phased-arrays will be built with unprecedented ultra-wideband coverage with multi-user beam-forming agility, while concurrently enabling 10-fold improvement in efficiency compared to the state of the art. The developed phased arrays will enable 20-100GHz continuous coverage (i.e. 5:1 bandwidth) for spread-spectrum and/or frequency hopping links, subsequently extending to the sub-millimeter-wavebands (e.g. the 220GHz atmospheric window). Enabled by this novel ultra-wideband front-end, new and efficient learning algorithms for mobile wireless nodes will be explored with the goal of dynamically and opportunistically accessing the 20-100GHz spectrum in highly-dynamic environments. This new strategy will help identify and utilize energy efficient transmission schemes between mobile millimeter-wave nodes. Additionally, adaptive and low-complexity resource allocation algorithms will be developed for effective quality-of-service provisioning in the targeted millimeter-wave regime. As its transformative feature, this collaborative and integrative effort will realize, for the first time, highly efficient and extremely affordable next generation millimeter-wave wireless networks, incorporating not only novel antenna front-ends but also synergistically optimized signaling and networking algorithms to truly transform a wide range of broadband mobile data and multimedia services.